In the manufacture of tufted carpet a fibrous nonwoven or woven primary mat, such as a spunbonded mat more than 2-4 meters wide is run through a tufting machine and tufted. Normally, this produces a tufted interim product that is rolled up and put into storage until an order for that type and color of tufted carpet is received by the carpet line. The tufts are held in the primary backing only by the friction of the primary backing mat on the strands of yarn penetrating the mat. At that time the roll of tufted interim product is removed and installed on the carpet line where all or a portion of the roll of interim product is finished into a carpet including applying a binder or adhesive to the backside of the primary mat to lock the tufts into position on the primary backing. Often the entire roll of interim product is not used for the order and the unused portion, smaller roll, is removed and put back into storage. A problem the carpet industry has in handling the rolls of tufted interim products is that sometimes one or more tufts is contacted by something on the production line or in transit to and from storage that pulls out one or more tufts and ruins the roll, or at least a section of the roll of interim product, a costly problem. This also happens in the tufting process. This happens with some primary backing mats more than others, but the reason why has not been known. In the past there has been no way to measure how difficult it is to pull out tufting from the interim tufted products. The characteristic of the primary backing mat for holding tufts prior to the application of binder or adhesive and curing is very important and is not constant for all primary backing mats.
Tests do exist for measuring the Tuft Withdrawal Force or Grab Strength for finished tufted carpet products, such as ASTM D-1335 or AWTA Test Code T-34, but in the finished carpet the magnitude of force required to remove a tuft is magnitudes higher and is done for a totally different reason, i.e. to determine how well the carpet will resist vacuum cleaners and wear and tear that tends to pull on the tufts. A test for an interim tufted product, and the use of such a test to improve the characteristics of the primary backing for holding tufts in place has not been developed.